An Unexpected Turn
by Witch Bomb
Summary: Mirajane, being the guild's resident shipper, decides to send four wizards on the same mission in hopes of getting the two couples together. But things don't exactly go according to plan…
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: I hope you enjoy this story! :)**

**Also, I find that fanfictions where the characters get together almost the instant they meet can be pretty boring, so the romance will be a little slow in this fanfic.**

* * *

The white-haired woman hummed to herself as she cleaned the dishes behind the bar counter. Things were unusually quiet today – most of the guild was out on missions, after all. Glancing around the guild hall, she saw that there were only about nine or ten people in the hall, aside from herself.

Mirajane's two younger siblings, Elfman and Lisanna, were helping her wash the dishes. Most of the others were just wandering around aimlessly or drinking something – except four of them, who were standing at the request board; Gajeel, Levy, Alzack and Bisca. Mira sighed as she watched Alzack and Bisca reach for the same request at the same moment, and then quickly pull their hands back when their fingers brushed together, murmuring apologies to each other. Levy was observing one of the requests toward the bottom of the board, while Gajeel, leaning over her, was squinting at one near the top. The take over mage couldn't help noting that the former was blushing from the proximity of the latter.

Mira shook her head sadly. It was so obvious that they had feelings for each other. When would the two pairs just admit that fact and get together…?

Maybe it was time to give them a little push.

"I'll be back in a minute," she told her siblings as she carefully put down the wine glass she had been drying and headed over to the request board. "Need help picking a job?" she asked cheerfully, causing Levy to nearly jump out of her skin.

"Yeah, all this shit is too easy," Gajeel growled.

Mira's blue eyes flitted over the request board. It seemed today was her lucky day: there was a job on the board that could help her set up _both _of the couples she was trying to get together. Grinning, she pointed to it. "How about this one?"

"…A town being held hostage by evil spirits…?" Levy asked, reading the request.

"Will I get to punch stuff?" the dragon slayer asked, turning toward Mira, who nodded. "Cool. Let's take it, Shrimp."

"Wait, it says four people," the bluenette pointed out. "We should bring Jet and Droy with –"

"No," Gajeel said bluntly.

"Why not?"

"I don't like them. And they don't like me. I ain't going on _any _jobs with 'em, period."

Levy glared at him. "Maybe it's about time you three set aside your differences. This job is a good opportunity for that."

Mirajane decided to pipe up. "If you don't want to take Jet and Droy along, I'm sure there's a certain two who would gladly take the request with you…"

Gajeel and Levy stared at her for a second.

"You mean those two?" Gajeel asked, pointing toward Alzack and Bisca.

Mira nodded. "They seem to be having trouble picking a job. Why don't you ask them to go with you? And it would be an interesting change from your usual team," she added. "After all, you can't always go on missions with the same people."

The dragon slayer and the script mage stared at the two gunslingers. They had spoken to the two of them quite a bit in the past; in fact, Levy and Bisca were good friends, and though Gajeel hadn't liked Alzack much at first, he was starting to grow on him.

"What do you think?" Levy asked, turning toward Gajeel.

"Don't care," Gajeel answered. "Up to you."

Without hesitation, Levy walked over to the other two. After a short conversation, all three of them headed back to the iron dragon slayer.

"So it's settled?" Mirajane asked, mentally smirking to herself. This was going better than she thought. "Good! Then you four just go out on your mission." As she watched the four of them leave the guild, she rubbed her hands together, giggling. If only there was a way she could watch them from now until they got back home – but she couldn't do that without physically following them, so it seemed she would just have to wait and see how things turned out.

* * *

"The train? _Seriously?!"_

"Quit being such a drama queen, Gajeel," Bisca snapped.

"Someone's on her period," Gajeel grunted.

"_What did you say, asshole?"_

"I said "someone's on her period"," the dragon slayer smirked.

"So you want to die?"

"You actually think you're capable of beating me? Hah!"

"Break it up, you two!" Levy shouted. "The train's here."

"I ain't going on no train," the dragon slayer growled.

"Really?" Alzack asked. "So, what other modes of transport do you have?"

"Uh… Lily! My cat!"

"He's back at the guild."

"I can walk, then!"

"The distance is too long for that."

"Well –"

Alzack sighed. "Just man up and get on the train, would you? It can't be _that _bad."

* * *

"…I stand corrected."

Gajeel groaned, leaning on Alzack for support, one hand waving frantically at Levy. "Shrimp! I need that paper bag again! _Now!"_

Sighing, Levy handed him the bag. "Why don't you just keep it?"

"Can't hold object. Takes too much energy – _blergh!"_

"Man up," Bisca retorted. "It's not fair toward Levy that you keep making her hold your damned bag of puke."

"Shrimp doesn't object."

"Um." Levy raised her hand gingerly. "Actually, yes, I _do _object."

"No ya don't." Gajeel tossed the bag back toward her, but this time, instead of just taking it, Levy tossed it back at him. Gajeel wasn't prepared, and it ended up on the floor. Even though the contents didn't spill, most of the passengers surrounding the bag got up and moved away, some of them screaming.

Alzack stared after them. "It's just vomit…"

Beside him, Gajeel made a sound. "Poncho, could you go get that bag for me? I think I need it again…"

"Oh god."

* * *

"So this is the place?" Bisca asked, stepping off of the train. "I don't see any evil spirits."

"The train station of the town we're trying to get to is closed because the spirits won't let anyone in," Levy explained. "This is the closest town. We'll have to walk from here."

"Good," Gajeel said. "No more vehicles."

"So they don't let trains in, but they'll let us in if we're on foot?" Bisca asked, narrowing her eyes.

"I doubt it," Alzack answered. "By the sound of it, we'll have to sneak in."

All four of them turned in the direction of the town, and four pairs of eyes widened at once. It looked as if a dome of solid blackness was covering the distant place.

"…There's probably an opening somewhere in that dome," Levy said optimistically. "Let's go try to find it." There was a pause as she observed the distance between their current location and the location of their job. "…But… we might have a long walk ahead of us first…"


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note: Sorry this chapter took so long to write. I sort of lost interest in writing for a little while, and when I finally felt like writing again, my old laptop broke down. Luckily, I have a new one now, and it's faster than the old one, so there might be faster updates in the future. :)**

* * *

"I wish we could've taken the train all the way to the town," Alzack sighed.

"Haha – _no," _Gajeel snapped. "That train is _evil."_

"But we could be there by now," Bisca said.

"They're right, Gajeel," Levy added. "We could've been there by six P.M, latest. But it's almost midnight now."

"Anyone just conveniently happen to bring a tent?" Gajeel asked. Everyone shook their heads. "Guess we're sleeping on the ground, then."

"Y'know, we could've stopped at one of the shops back in that town and bought a tent," Alzack pointed out.

"None of us thought we would be walking for this long," Levy answered.

"…So, do we have anything we could use _instead _of a tent?" Bisca asked.

"Wait a minute." Levy dropped the small backpack she had been carrying, opening it and starting to dig through the contents. "I think I might have some blankets we could set up like a tent, but we'd need some nails. And some sticks. Alzack, Bisca, could you two go find me some tree branches or something? Thanks. Gajeel, about the nails…"

Gajeel's hands flew protectively to his pockets. "You're not having 'em."

"We need them."

"They're the only food I brought!"

"I don't need that many. Only… I don't know… six? You can do as you please with the rest of them."

"…Fine."

"Thank you."

* * *

Half an hour later, the four of them stood back to admire their handiwork.

"Levy," Bisca said, patting the shorter girl on the head, "you are a genius."

"What a waste of nails…" Gajeel grumbled.

"At least we have a place to sleep," Alzack told him.

"But it's not a very big tent…" Levy said sheepishly.

"Don't worry, we can all fit if we squish together a little," Bisca smiled.

Gradually, all four of them started to go red in the face as they realized the implications of that.

"Can we make the tent bigger?" Alzack asked, breaking the silence.

"We don't have any more blankets," Gajeel answered.

"It's just one night," Levy managed. "And… and it's n-not as if we're…"

"Yeah." Bisca nodded. "Let's just get some sleep, okay?"

None of them actually got more than a few hours' sleep that night. It was difficult, lying there with nothing but a few blankets between them and the cold ground, not to mention the awkwardness of being sandwiched between two people (for Alzack and Bisca, anyway – Gajeel was on the far left of the tent and Levy on the far right, but they were still between one person and the wall). So in the morning, all of them were still tired and aching from yesterday's trek.

Levy groaned. "Bisca, can you move? I need to get out."

There were some shifting noises from behind the bluenette. She became aware that the other woman was pressed quite closely against her back. "Nope," Bisca answered. "Can't move. I'm stuck between you and Al."

"Huh…?" Alzack yawned. "What was that? Did someone say my name?"

"I'm stuck between you and Levy," Bisca explained. "Could you get out?"

Alzack tried to move, only to find that Gajeel's arm was wrapped around him. "Ugh, Gajeel's holding me." He tried to pull away.

"Oi. Get back here, Lily." Gajeel grumbled in his sleep, pulling Alzack back toward him.

"Sorry. I can't move either," Alzack whispered.

"You'll have to wake Gajeel up," said Levy.

"Shhhhh!" Bisca suddenly hissed.

There was a short pause. "What?" Alzack and Levy asked in unison.

"I said shhhhh! As in shut up! I heard something."

All three of them were completely silent for a few moments. Slight rustling noises could be heard in the forest behind their makeshift tent, like footsteps, with quiet voices which seemed like they were coming closer to them.

"The next town should be another… six hours or so away by now."

There was a groan. "I'm sick of walking."

"We've only been up for an hour, Steve."

"Yes, and we walked for another full hour yesterday. And all because the stupid vehicle was too small to fit us as well as everyone else!"

"Calm down. We'll rest when we reach the next town."

"What's the point of this mission, anyway?"  
"We're supposed to be searching every town in the area for… you know what we're looking for."

"But why is it necessary to trap everyone inside?"

"One of the town's residents may possess the device we're searching for. It's important to thoroughly search every household as well as the rest of the town."

As the voices faded into the distance, Alzack turned his head slightly toward Levy. "Were they the ones who…?"

"Judging by what they were saying, I think so," Levy whispered.

"So they're looking for something," Bisca observed. "And that town isn't the only one they plan on searching…"

"By the sounds of it, we'll have to walk two more hours to get to our destination," Alzack said. "We need to get out of this tent."

"But – wait a minute!" Levy gasped as an idea suddenly struck her. She started trying to pull one of the blankets forming the tent away from the nails that fastened it to the ground. That was when one of the tree branches snapped, causing the entire structure to collapse.

Three startled yelps were heard from beneath the heap of blankets, along with a sudden snort of surprise as Gajeel woke up.

"…You had one job, Levy," Bisca said. "One job."

"You said I was a genius yesterday!"

* * *

A few hours later, they finally reached the town. It seemed that the black dome surrounding the town was creating a strong wind which almost knocked them over backwards. Well, it wasn't really a wind – more like a force.

Levy frowned. "I've never seen this type of magic before."

"Whatever the case, we have to find a way in," Alzack said.

"Obviously, we can't just walk straight in," Bisca added, pointing to the dome.

"Thanks, Captain Obvious," Gajeel answered.

"None of us can fly, so we can't go into it from the top," Levy continued.

"Captain Obvious strikes again."

"Shut up, Gajeel," Alzack snapped.

Gajeel turned and stared at him. "What?"

"I said shut up. Unless you have something useful to say, which, by the sound of it, you don't." Alzack glared at him.

The dragon slayer blinked in confusion. It always perplexed him how, despite the obvious difference in strength – both physical and magic power – the gunslinger would blatantly sass him. If he kept talking like that to people who were so much more powerful than him, he would probably end up in hospital. Or possibly a graveyard.

"I guess that only leaves one option," Levy sighed. "Underground."

"Unless we find an entrance in the side of the dome somewhere," Bisca said hopefully.

Levy looked up at her. "Do you really want to walk all the way around this dome to look for an entrance? Even with all four of us, it could take hours, and we're not guaranteed to find anything."

Bisca sighed in disappointment. "I guess you're right…" Both she and Alzack yelped as Gajeel suddenly grabbed each of them under one arm.

"Get on my back, Shrimp," the dragon slayer said to Levy.

The bluenette glared at him for calling her "Shrimp", but climbed onto his back anyway. "What are you going to do?"

"Go underground. Duh."


	3. Chapter 3

The sound was barely audible, but it was there, and getting louder by the second. It sounded like three people screaming at the top of their lungs, occasionally cursing.

Gradually, the sound from beneath the earth got nearer and nearer, until finally the surface of the ground broke and a figure burst out into the air feet-first, so covered in dirt he was barely recognizable, with three other people; one under each arm and another, smaller one clinging to his back. The bizarre thing was that the one carrying the other three seemed to have a drill instead of legs. However, the drill quickly changed back into human legs in midair, allowing him to flip over and land on his feet.

The smaller one who was riding on his back took several moments to catch her breath, before she raised a small fist and struck him on the back of the head. "Gajeel, _never _do that again!"

"Geez, sorry," said Gajeel, dumping the other two unceremoniously on the ground and crouching so that the small girl could jump off. "Didn't realize that you'd rather walk around for hours trying to find an entrance that might not even exist."

One of the two lying on the ground sat up and spat out a large lump of dirt. "Is it over?"

"Yes, Al," the other one answered. "It's over."

All four of them stood up and took in their surroundings. The town seemed to be deserted, but if you were to look closely, eyes occasionally peered out of the windows of the surrounding buildings. Even though it was daylight outside the dome, on the inside, it appeared to be night, making it difficult to see.

Levy frowned up at the roof of the dome. Something about it unnerved her. Maybe it was the fact that it was deep blue and dotted with stars when it was supposed to be morning.

Or maybe it was something else.

As the other three started to walk deeper into the town, Levy stood there and kept looking at the "sky".

"Hey, Levy!" Bisca called over her shoulder. "Hurry up!"

"Wait a minute!" Levy looked away from the "sky" and toward the wall of the dome. Yes, it was just as she thought. "Guys, those aren't stars."

"'Course they're not," Gajeel replied. "They're just supposed to look like 'em."

"No, they're not." This got the attention of the other three. They stopped and turned toward Levy. "They're eyes," the bluenette explained.

The other three stared at the wall of the dome. When they looked more closely, each pair of eyes was surrounded by a dark blob. Said "dark blobs" were making up the entire dome.

"Well," Alzack said quietly. "The job request _did _say that the town was being held hostage by evil spirits…"

Gajeel looked up. "Holy shit."

"I know," Bisca whispered. "There's so many of them…"

"That's not what I was saying "holy shit" about." He pointed upwards. "Look."

They looked up.

Levy's eyes widened. "It's as if they're going through mitosis!"

It was true. Somewhere, near the top of the dome, some of the blobs seemed to be splitting to form new blobs, which were… getting larger? …No, they weren't getting larger. They were just coming closer.

"Think they're going to attack us?" Bisca asked, requipping a machine gun.

"No," Alzack replied sarcastically, pulling a revolver out of the holster near his hip. "They're a welcoming committee who are coming to show us around this town."

"…Really?"

"What do _you _think?"

As the spirits came closer, they kept dividing until it seemed as if there was an army heading toward the Fairy Tail mages.

"Homing Shot!"

"Sunlight Shot!"

"Iron Dragon's Roar!"

"Solid Script: Fire!"

The smoke left by their attacks gradually cleared to reveal that either their magic was having absolutely no effect or the spirits were dividing at such a rate that it didn't matter how strong their attacks were, the army would just keep getting bigger and bigger.

Levy backed up slightly. "It's not going to be any use. We have to run."

"What?!" Gajeel turned toward her. "You gotta be joking. We don't _run _from–"

His speech was cut short as the swarm of dark blobs reached them and surrounded them, letting out spine-chilling shrieks as they slashed at the wizards with surprisingly sharp teeth and claws. The air was so full of the spirits that it was hard to breathe, to see, even to hear anything other than screaming.

Alzack felt an arm wrap around him and lift him off the ground, dragging him through the swarm, toward what he desperately hoped was an exit. He shut his eyes to prevent those _things _from clawing his eyes out, and prayed that they would make it out alive.

At the same time, a warm hand grabbed Levy by the wrist and pulled her close to the owner of the hand. Whoever it was picked her up and ran. There was no sense of direction; it was impossible to tell which direction was which. They just… ran.

* * *

It was hard to tell how much time had passed. Here, it always seemed to be night. Hell, it could be night even outside the dome by now. But the good thing about this was that the sounds the spirits made had grown quieter and gradually faded into the distance. That meant they had escaped. He felt a hard, rough surface against his back and realized that he was leaning against a tree. There was a soft thud as whoever it was who had saved him sat down nearby. For a while, there was no sound except the two of them panting.

"They're gone, y'know," said a voice. He recognized it as Gajeel's voice. "You can open your eyes."

Alzack opened his eyes and stared at the dragon slayer. He was covered in scratches, bite marks, and bleeding cuts. Judging by the various pains all over his body, Alzack guessed that he probably looked similarly beat-up. "I thought you said you weren't going to run," he commented.

"Changed my mind."

The guns mage nodded. He could understand that. He looked around to find that the two of them were surrounded by trees. "So… where exactly are we?"

"Well, ya see, this town ain't shaped like a circle. So when they put this dome around it, they got part of the forest in the dome as well. That's where we are."

"What about Bisca and Levy?"

Gajeel shrugged. "Dunno where they went. But it's fine. They're capable."

* * *

Levy was resting against the side of a concrete building, panting. Both of them were covered in cuts and scratches, but they had escaped those spirit things. That was good. And she was with someone she trusted: Bisca. That was also good. They were in the middle of a town neither of them knew a thing about. That was not good.

Bisca leaned against the wall next to Levy. "Well, we're safe."

Levy nodded. "Yes. But I wish we had a map."

The greenette sat down next to her and patted her on the head. "We'll see if we can find one."

There was silence for a few moments. "Where do you think Gajeel and Alzack went?" Levy asked.

"I don't know," Bisca replied. "But I'm pretty sure they escaped as well. They'll be fine. And so will we."

Levy hoped Bisca was right about that.


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's Note: Sorry this one took so long. I had writer's block. I also had several other ideas for fanfictions (and an idea for a doujinshi, which I'm writing the script for before I start the comic itself), and I was writing them at the same time as this. I'll try to focus mainly on this one until it's finished, but I'll probably get distracted again.**

* * *

"Okay, so our first priority is to find the girls. We'll be stronger as a four-person team than we will with just the two of us."

"Sure, Al… _that's _the reason you want to find them…"

Alzack looked up at Gajeel, frowning. "Do you think I'm some sort of pervert or something?"

"No, but you have a thing for Biscuit."

The guns mage blushed. "I do _not! _And even if I did, it's not important right now! We have to focus on the mission, okay?"

Gajeel rolled his eyes. "Got it."

"So." Alzack leaned back against the tree. "You have that "super-dragon-slayer-sense of smell" of yours, right? You can pick up their scent. From there, it'll be easy to find them."

"It's not that simple," Gajeel growled. "I need something that smells like them first. We don't have any of their belongings."

Alzack sighed. "Speaking of that, Levy had the bag with all the food in it… and the blankets… and everything else we brought with us…"

"Who cares? We can hunt. And there are edible plants out here."

"I know absolutely nothing about edible plants," Alzack admitted.

"…Neither do I."

"In other words, we'll have to eat nothing but meat until we find Bisca and Levy?"

"Pretty much, yeah."

Alzack groaned. He was stuck in the woods with someone who probably hated him, the only available food was meat, and they had no water.

This was not going to be fun.

* * *

"So… Gajeel and Alzack are somewhere in the town. We have absolutely no clue where. We have all the food and water, so they don't have any… This mission is going well."

"No, it's not," Bisca pointed out.

"I was being sarcastic," Levy answered.

"…Oh."

"As for us," Levy continued, "we're stuck in the middle of a town which we know nothing about, and if we come out of hiding then chances are those spirits will attack us again."

Both of them suddenly froze as they heard knocking at the door of the house they were hiding behind. Bisca opened her mouth to say something, but Levy pressed a finger to her lips, silently telling her to be quiet. She had a bad feeling about this.

There was the sound of the door opening around the other side of the house.

"Good day, ma'am," said a man's voice. "We're here to search your house. Don't worry, we'll try not to bother anyone. We need to come in, so if you'd be so kind as to move out of the way…"

"Sorry, but I don't let strangers into my home," snapped the woman who had answered the door. "Get lost."

"Our search will do you and your family no harm. Now, _please _move. This is the last time we will ask."

"No. I don't care what you're looking for, I ain't letting you into my house." A slight crackling sound, like fire, could be heard. The two Fairy Tail mages assumed that the woman was using fire magic in an attempt to scare the strangers away.

"Fine, then we'll use force. Joe, you know what to do."

There were a few heavy footsteps, presumably "Joe" walking toward the house. "Fire magi–" the woman began, but her sentence was cut off with a scream, which ended abruptly with a loud, sickening _crack_. Then there were more footsteps, this time two people, walking into the house. This was followed by yelling, several high-pitched screams, and a child crying, all of which gradually faded into silence.

Levy and Bisca glanced at each other. They were both thinking the same thing: _Let's get them._

The duo snuck in through the nearby back door, trying to be as quiet as possible on the blue, carpeted floors. Bisca raised a hand, silently telling Levy to hold still for a moment, and peered around the corner. A man in a strange uniform was pacing back and forth across the room, arms folded behind his back, face covered by a mask. He occasionally glanced down at the four people who were sitting on the floor, their backs against the wall; a middle-aged man holding a baby, an elderly lady, and a boy who looked about ten.

"So, do you have any clue where this object might be?" the man in the uniform asked, holding up an image the greenette couldn't see from her current position.

The man shook his head. "No, I haven't seen that anywhere! Now will you please _leave us alone?"_

"I sincerely apologize, but we can't leave your home until we've completed our search of the building. Ah, here comes Joe now."

A much taller man with the same uniform and mask as the other stepped into the room. "Couldn't find anything. Even searched behind the secret panel in the wall in the basement. Nothin'."

"Alright then." The shorter man turned toward the family. "Our search is complete. We shall leave now."

As the footsteps headed toward them, Bisca did the first thing she could think of to avoid being seen. She grabbed Levy around the waist and darted into the nearest closet, leaving the door slightly ajar so that she could see out of it. Peering around the door, she watched the two men leave, and caught a glimpse of the picture one of them was holding.

_What is that thing? _she wondered.

It was impossible to tell how large the thing was by simply looking at the sketch, but it was easy to see that it was some sort of machine. And not a particularly modern-looking one.

"What is that thing?" Levy whispered almost silently, voicing exactly what Bisca was thinking.

"Looks like some sort of old machine," Bisca replied quietly. "Must be what they're looking for…"

Levy nodded. "I don't know what it's for, but by the look of it, it can't be good. We should find it before they do."

"And destroy it," Bisca added.

* * *

"…So… no signs of any animals yet…"

"Shut up, Poncho."

"I'm just saying, y'know, maybe this was there aren't animals in this direction after all. And don't call me "Poncho"!"

Gajeel turned toward him, smirking. "Why not?"

"Because I don't like it," Alzack answered.

"So? What kinda reason is that?"

"A valid one."

"Not really."

"You know what? Fine. Go ahead and call me "Poncho"… Metal Brains."

"_What _did you just call me?" Gajeel asked, glaring down at Alzack.

"You gave me a nickname. Don't see why I can't give one to you."

Gajeel growled as the guns mage walked casually past him. He wasn't sure how much longer he would be able to go without killing this guy…

Alzack suddenly stopped with a sharp gasp. "Gajeel!" he hissed, apparently forgetting about the whole "Metal Brains" thing already.

The iron dragon slayer turned around and started walking toward him. "What?" he asked.

"Shh! Don't be so loud!" Alzack whispered. He pointed ahead of them. "Look. It's a deer."

Gajeel stared at the animal, his face splitting into a grin. "Dinner," he whispered, his arm becoming an iron sword. He almost immediately lunged at it – but the deer was too fast for him and ran off into the bushes. The iron dragon slayer lay face-down on the grass, cursing loudly.

Alzack sighed and shook his head. "Gajeel, I was just pointing it out. There's not that much meat on anything _that _thin, anyway. I could see its ribs. And they're way faster than us; if I attacked it, it would've been gone by the time I had loaded my gun."

"Shut up, Poncho."

"Anyway, let's keep heading in this direction. Maybe we'll find something else."

The dragon slayer really didn't feel like listening to Alzack. But at this point, he knew it was probably the most sensible course of action, so he got up and walked in the direction Alzack had specified.

* * *

Gajeel froze, causing Alzack to bump into him. They had reached the edge of the woods; if they went any further, they'd be in plain sight of those spirits, and would probably be attacked again.

"Hey–" Alzack began, leaning sideways to try and see around the taller man, but his sentence ended abruptly when he saw the town in front of them. "…Oh."

"What now, _boss?_" Gajeel taunted.

"Since when was I the boss?" Alzack asked, blinking at him. "I figured you would want that role."

"Anyway, let's keep heading in this direction," Gajeel said in a poor imitation of Alzack. "Maybe–"

"Why are you suddenly in such a bad mood?" the other asked.

"Maybe it's the fact that _I'm fucking starving!" _the dragon slayer snapped.

"I'm hungry too, and I'm not biting your head off."

Slowly, Gajeel realized how weak both of their voices sounded. How long had they walked through the forest after the incident with the deer? Five hours? Six? And five more hours before that. That meant they had gone almost twelve hours without eating a single thing. They needed something to eat – but at the edge of the woods, what would they find?

The dragon slayer looked around. A few yards to their right, there was a cluster of houses, their backs only a few feet away from the edge of the woods. He grabbed Alzack's wrist and dragged him in that direction, shushing him when the guns mage started to protest.

With a few quick steps, they managed to get from the woods to the backs of the houses without being noticed by those spirits. The back door of the house they were pressed against was only a foot or so to Gajeel's left. Without hesitating, he reached out and knocked on the door.

Alzack's eyes widened. "What–" he began, but was cut off when Gajeel clamped a hand over his mouth.

As soon as the door opened, Gajeel stepped in front of the door. "We're from the Fairy Tail guild," he told the surprised, elderly man standing before them. "We're here to save your whole town from those spirit things. We haven't eaten anything for almost twelve hours and we're really damn tired. Mind lettin' us in?"

The old man looked surprised for several seconds, before his face softened a bit. "I'm so glad someone finally came to save us! Come in, come in! Young people shouldn't go so long without eating. I'll make you some stew, and then you can use my guest room if you'd like. It's five in the morning anyway. Oh, and I have a first-aid kit in the bathroom for all those wounds."

"No wonder we're so tired…" Alzack sighed. He briefly wondered how Bisca and Levy were doing, before remembering that they were both capable of taking care of themselves and had probably found a safe place to stay, like them.

* * *

Eleven hours ago, Bisca and Levy had been in a closet.

"What do we do?" Levy whispered. The family living in the house had started moving around again, the dead woman's body on the table and covered up with a sheet. Her mother, husband and children could be heard weeping.

"I don't know," Bisca answered. "Wait for them to go to sleep?"

"That could be hours," Levy sighed. "And even then, we might wake them up if we move around too much, not to mention all the doors opening and closing…"

Bisca sighed. "We could always just come out and introduce ourselves."

"But they might not be too happy about us being in their house uninvited."

"True… maybe if we let them know that we're from the Fairy Tail guild and that we're here to save them, they won't be hostile toward us?"

"…Maybe."

"Alright, let's give it a shot." Before Levy could change her mind, the greenette pushed open the door. "We're from the Fairy Tail guild, and we're here to save your town!"

The family members stared at her. After several seconds of silence, the baby started crying.

Levy sighed, resisting the urge to facepalm. "Bisca, let me handle this."

"What did I do wrong?" Bisca asked, staring at the shorter girl in confusion.

"We'll talk about it later. For now, just… let me handle this. Please?"

"Okay."

"Um, sorry about being in your house uninvited," she said to the confused people standing before them. "We were just listening and trying to gather information about those people who are holding this town hostage. Do you know anything about them that could help us?"

The elderly woman was the one who spoke. "They're a cult of Zeref worshippers who are looking for some sort of device that they think is in this town. A few of them left to search a different town earlier today, but many of them are still here."

"Thank you." Levy smiled, before turning to leave.

"Wait."

The two mages turned back around.

"If you two ever need something to eat, or a place to sleep, we'll gladly let you in," the old woman smiled. "Your effort to save our town is fully supported by our family. And you two look as if you could use something for all those cuts you have."

Bisca and Levy glanced at each other. Levy turned back toward them. "Thank you again. We appreciate it."

Now, hours later, the two of them lay in beds on opposite sides of the family's guest bedroom, fast asleep.

* * *

The old man sat on one of the uncomfortable wooden chairs in the kitchen, listening carefully to the two wizards moving around upstairs. Once he heard the door of his guest bedroom slam shut, he pulled a communication lacrima out of his pocket and, glancing around furtively, dialed a number.

He could hear the ringing on the other end as he held the lacrima to his ear. It rang twice before someone picked it up.

"Yes?"

"I have some information about those wizards we were informed about," he whispered. "First of all, they're from the Fairy Tail guild. They're trying to "save the town" from our spirits. There are four of them, according to the ones I've found, but I only have two here. They'll be asleep soon. Once they are, I'll make sure they stay that way. In the meantime, I'll need someone to come over to the house I'm hiding out in and wait outside for them to be unconscious." He gave the address of the house he was in. "We can use them as bait for the other two and quickly stop all four of them."

"Excellent plan. I'll send a team over and we'll take them as hostages."

"Thank you," the old man grinned, making sure to be quiet to keep those two wizards from hearing him. Then he hung up.


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's Note: Sorry this took so long. Shipping starts this chapter... sort of. I think it still feels a bit rushed, even though it's the fifth chapter now. XD  
**

**Also, I don't know if stories need to be rated M for torture or not. I don't see why this one would, since I tried not to go into detail, but if you think the rating needs to be changed, please let me know. ^^**

* * *

Bisca yawned, sitting up. She slumped slightly, staring straight ahead of her. "…I don't feel refreshed at all." She turned to see Levy, who was on the bed closer to the window, hugging her knees and staring at the dark sky outside. "Something wrong?" she asked.

Levy sighed. "It's just… I have this unshakable feeling that something bad happened to Gajeel and Alzack."

Bisca stood up, walking across the room and hugging the smaller girl. "It's okay. They're capable. If something bad happened to them, they can take care of it themselves."

Levy smiled and nodded. "Yeah. I guess you're right." For some reason, she felt strangely warm when she was being hugged by the greenette.

* * *

Gajeel groaned, opening his eyes slowly. He frowned and shut his eyes again. Then he opened them again. Why was there no difference?

Rolling over onto his other side, he could see faint, orange light, like fire, flickering nearby. He could also see what the fire was illuminating: bars. Metal bars, right in front of his face. "Am I in a cell or somethin'?"

He could vaguely remember yesterday – or early this morning, rather. He and Alzack had arrived at some old man's house, tired, starving, and injured. They'd had some stew, fixed up all those cuts from the attack, and gone to sleep. They'd gone to sleep. In a stranger's house.

The dragon slayer groaned again. What had he been thinking?! Neither of them knew anything about that old man! He could've been working with the enemy, for all they knew – and judging by the current situation, he probably had been. Gajeel now understood why Alzack hadn't wanted to go into a stranger's house.

…Alzack!

Gasping, Gajeel sat up, looking frantically around the cell. Where was he? Was he okay? Wait, why was Gajeel this worried about the guns mage? Sure, they were teammates for this mission, but he'd never felt this worried about anything before. His heart was pounding as he frantically looked around, but found nobody else in the cell with him.

"Al!" he yelled into the darkness. "Poncho! You here?"

He was suddenly aware of another human presence standing nearby, and turned to see a tall man in a strange, dark blue uniform with a mask. The dragon slayer growled.

"Where is he?" Gajeel snarled.

"I assume you mean your teammate," the man said. "Let me assure you, he's fine. He's just in a different cell."

"What's the point of putting us in different cells?"

Gajeel was almost certain that the man grinned behind his mask. "This way, you'll be forced to hear each other's screams… and won't be able to do anything about it."

The dragon slayer stood up angrily. "What? What the hell are you gonna do to him?!"

The man was silent. However, a loud, familiar scream echoed down the hallways, causing Gajeel to lean forward and grip the bars.

"What are you doing to him, you sick fucks?!" he roared. Anger had him seeing red, shaking, not thinking straight. He didn't know why he was so angry, or why he felt so protective of someone who he'd been arguing with yesterday. Was this what Natsu felt when someone hurt another person in the guild…?

"What we'll be doing to you in an hour or so. It's all for the sake of luring the other two Fairy Tail mages into our base. There's nothing you can do to save him. Just relax while you still can."

Gajeel waited for the sound of the man's footsteps to fade away. It didn't take long, Alzack's screams quickly drowning them out. He began looking around the cell, searching for a way to escape – then it hit him. He was the iron dragon slayer! He could eat iron!

But were the bars even made of iron, or were they made of some different metal? Dammit, he knew nothing about bars…

…Well, if he wanted to save Alzack, he had to at least try.

* * *

"You two!"

Levy and Bisca looked up from the bags they were packing to see the old woman, holding a communication lacrima (the crystal ball was filled with nothing but mist, so it seemed as if the image function had been broken a while ago) and looking worried.

"It's those people again. The ones who invaded our house yesterday. They want to speak to you," she explained.

Bisca frowned, taking the lacrima and putting it on the table. "What do you want?" she asked coldly.

"Ah, I guessed that you might be in this house, after yesterday. We heard someone come in while we were speaking to that family," said the voice of one of the two men. "We just wanted to let you know that we have your friends here in our prison. And we're torturing them. You may want to hurry up and come to find them; it would save them a lot of pain."

"What?!" Bisca's hand slammed down loudly on the table. Levy looked up at her, worried. "You're lying, aren't you? They wouldn't let themselves be captured so easily!"

"I don't know about that," the Zeref worshipper laughed. "They walked right into our hands." Faint screaming could be heard in the background – screaming that Bisca had heard before. "See? Can you hear that? That's your friend. And there's blood everywhere; it's really quite disgusting. You should come and save him before he dies of blood loss. Oh, and we'll be starting on the other one in a few minutes, once our other torturer returns from his search…"

Bisca hung up, shaking as she gave the lacrima back to the old woman.

"What's wrong?" Levy asked.

"They have Gajeel and Alzack," Bisca explained through gritted teeth. "They're not lying. I could hear screaming."

"But why would they let us know that?" Levy asked. "It's probably a trap…"

"I don't care," Bisca growled. "Trap or not, we're going to save both of them."

* * *

Gajeel was all but stumbling down the hallways of the prison. Whatever that stuff had been, it was _not _iron – it had tasted like some of that new metal that someone had invented, the one that was resistant to magic. He had eaten some of it once, and been sick for days. But he didn't care. He had to save Alzack.

The dragon slayer finally reached the cell the screams were coming from, beginning to eat through the bars. The torturer inside the cell was far too busy to notice him as he finally removed enough of the metal to enter the cell. He snuck up behind the torturer, his Iron Dragon's Fist hitting him in the head from behind, knocking him out cold.

Alzack was on the floor, on the verge of unconsciousness. The cuts and scratches he'd received in the attack from the spirits had re-opened and were bleeding, along with the new cuts. His poncho and shirt lay several feet away from him, on the floor. He didn't notice that the torture had stopped until he felt a hand gently touch his arm.

"Gajeel…?" he managed.

The iron dragon slayer was pale and shaking, breathing heavily. He hadn't eaten that much of a metal he wasn't supposed to eat before, and now he felt even sicker than he had on the train.

"Are you okay?" the guns mage asked.

Gajeel nodded. "I'm fine," he lied. "Now let's get out of here." He reached down to help Alzack up, then realized that walking would be a bad idea with him losing blood that fast, and picked him up to carry him. He grabbed the red shirt and the poncho from the floor, using them as makeshift bandages for all the bleeding wounds. They didn't have any more time to hang around.

He turned around, leaving the prison cell and running as fast as he could. Black spots were beginning to appear in front of his eyes, and he felt like he was going to vomit. It was impossible to tell how far behind them the guards were; his hearing was fading along with his vision. It reached the point where he couldn't see at thing and was barely able to hear.

But he heard Levy's voice.

"Solid Script: Water!"

Gajeel collapsed onto the stone floor as a wave flew over his head, causing loud cries of surprise and pain from the guards behind him were hit.

"Solid Script: Lightning!"

"More are coming in, Levy!"

"I know. Can you take care of those? I'll help the guys."

"Okay."

As the dragon slayer's sight began to return, he looked up. Levy was standing over him.

"Solid Script: Iron," she said calmly, a large block of iron hitting the floor in front of Gajeel. The bluenette smiled at him. "Eat it. You might feel better."

Gajeel wasn't sure if eating his element _would _make him feel better after he ate that magic metal, but it was worth a shot. He bit into the iron, eating the whole block as Bisca and Levy continued their attack on the guards, Alzack regaining enough strength to join in. Gajeel finally managed to stand up, unleashing an Iron Dragon's Roar, wiping out a large chunk of the guards. With that, along with all the damage the other three had done, there only seemed to be a few guards left – but they were calling for reinforcements.

"Quick!" Levy shouted. "We have to get out before those reinforcements come!"

The other three nodded, turning and beginning to run. Levy turned back around as she heard the few remaining guards begin to pursue them.

"Solid Script: Mud!" The ground between her and the guards became coated with a thick layer of mud, far too sticky to run through. The guards would have to walk carefully across that, and would undoubtedly get stuck several times. Grinning, the bluenette turned and followed her comrades.

* * *

The four of them were back in the house of the family that had let Bisca and Levy stay with them last night. The iron had apparently had the desired effect, and Gajeel felt much better now; Alzack's cuts were healing surprisingly fast. Levy and Bisca had a few wounds that were also healing well.

"So, what now?" Bisca asked. "We go back and beat 'em up?"

Levy shook her head. "What we saw was probably only a small fraction of them. It won't be easy to beat them with four people, especially since none of us are S-class mages."

"What did this mission need exactly four people for, anyway?" Alzack asked, frowning.

Gajeel shrugged. "Dunno."

"I think it has something to do with the dome," Levy frowned. "Our only way in was underground, after all, and any more than the four of us wouldn't have been able to fit through that hole."

"Could be," Bisca agreed.

Alzack nodded. "And I guess we might need a small group to find their main base. A larger group would be noticed by those spirits."

"We got noticed and attacked by those spirits anyway," Gajeel pointed out.

"We won't be noticed again if we hide." Alzack smiled at him. "Like what we did before. Remember?"

"It's easier to hide in groups of two that one big group of four," Bisca said abruptly. She noticed the others staring at her and slumped down in her chair. She didn't know why she had suggested that, or, now she thought about it, why she wanted to team up with Levy but not the other two. "I mean, we can bring communication lacrimas with us this time," she continued. "I'm sure this family has some spares or something, right? Those things are breakable; anyone with a grain of sense buys at least two spares."

Alzack nodded. "I agree. We could form some sort of strategy and attack their base from both sides. Maybe we could capture the leader and question them."

Gajeel thought about it for a second. "Yeah, I guess it would be better to attack the base from both sides…" He glanced at Alzack. "It's not gonna do _that _much harm to divide ourselves into two teams again. We were okay last time."

Levy quickly nodded in agreement. "Same two teams as last time?"

"I guess so." Bisca put her arm around Levy's shoulders. In the silence that followed, she realized what she had just done and quickly withdrew her arm. "So, what's the plan?"


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's Note: Sorry for not updating in a while. Hopefully updates will be faster in the future. Once I'm done this fanfiction, I'll start working on that AU fanfiction I mentioned, along with Fairy Knights. :)**

* * *

After a couple of hours of discussion/argument, the four came to an agreement: they needed to see the base itself before they made a plan. They headed toward the building as quietly as possible, trying to get a good view through the forest of trees that surrounded the town's police office – the building that the Zeref worshippers had made their base.

It rose only two stories off of the ground, a building of white plaster. The doors, roof tiles, and window frames were black, contrasting against the walls.

"Guys!" Alzack whispered.

Gajeel was the only one who heard him. He turned toward the guns mage, who gestured for him to come over to where he was standing. The iron dragon slayer tapped Bisca's arm, pointing in Alzack's direction. The greenette, seeming to understand, grabbed Levy and followed Gajeel over to the spot where her teammate seemed to have found something.

"What's that?" Bisca asked, staring down at the two wooden doors in the ground.

"It doesn't look like a sewer entrance," Levy answered. "Maybe a cellar?"

"Let's check it out." Alzack pulled open the doors, revealing a set of stone steps leading into darkness.

Levy used her magic to quickly create light, before heading down the steps in front of the others.

It wasn't exactly a cellar. Rows of cells lined both walls: it seemed to be a temporary place to hold criminals while they were waiting to be taken to the Magic Council's prison. It was also very similar to the place where Gajeel and Alzack were being held earlier that day, but since the doors they came in through weren't the same ones they had left through during their escape, they assumed that their former cells were at the opposite end.

"I guess we could attack them from down here," Bisca said. "I could shoot up at the ceiling, and–"

"The ceiling would collapse on us, Bisca," Levy told her.

"…Right. Damn."

"So I guess this is pretty much useless to us, huh?" Gajeel folded his arms.

"I guess so," Alzack replied.

All four of them stood there, still looking around in hopes that this discovery wasn't completely useless to them.

Levy was the one who spoke. "I mean, if we got out fast enough, we wouldn't get hurt by the falling ceiling… and if we attacked from down here, they would come down here looking for us…"

"Right, but for that to work as a distraction, we'd need someone on the other side of the base," Alzack pointed out.

"Why don't you and Gajeel go over there, then?" Bisca suggested.

"Well..." Levy considered Bisca's idea. "…Yeah, Gajeel's the strongest of us four. It's better if we serve as a distraction while he does the actual attacking. But Bisca's pretty strong too, so don't you think–"

"Nah, I can stay down here with you," Bisca answered. "If something happens to you, I don't think I'd trust the other two to save you."

Levy turned slightly pink. "Okay."

Alzack smiled. "Besides, I… sort of don't like it down here, if you understand."

Gajeel nodded, taking one of the communication lacrimas from Bisca. "We'll go find a place to wait outside while you two distract 'em. We'll call you when we've found a good spot."

"Okay." Bisca and Levy watched as the other two wizards headed back outside.

"So, which side are we attacking from?" Alzack asked. "The other side of the building might be a better place, but there are more windows there."

Gajeel shrugged. "It's a risk we can take." They reached the other side of the building, finding that there were many more buildings they could hide behind or on top of. The dragon slayer pointed toward a nearby roof that was well-hidden by trees in the house's front yard.

Alzack nodded, understanding what he meant. "We'd be hidden from the windows, and it's within range for us to attack the base. But – I, uh, have one question…"

Gajeel looked down at him. "Hm?"

"Do you want me to help you attack, or would you rather do it by yourself?" He flushed as Gajeel stared at him. "I mean, I could understand if you don't want any help–"

"Nah." The dragon slayer shook his head. "I can handle it by myself, but I'll be better off with someone to back me up. If I was plannin' on doing this myself, I would've left ya back there with the girls."

Alzack flushed a slightly deeper shade of red. "Okay, let's go." As he walked, he started wiping his face in a futile attempt to get rid of the redness. He assumed the sudden warmth in his face was due to his gratitude toward the dragon slayer for getting the two of them out of the prison cell yesterday.

Once they reached the house they were planning on attacking from, Gajeel turned to Alzack. "You climb up first. You're smaller."

Alzack nodded, grabbing a loose brick and beginning to climb up the side of the house. As soon as he was up high enough, Gajeel followed.

They climbed onto the dark grey tiles of the roof as quietly as possible, scrambling across to reach the tree on the other side of the roof and hiding beneath the leaves. As Gajeel took aim at the building, Alzack picked up the communication lacrima and called Bisca and Levy.

The lacrima in Levy's hand suddenly lit up. The short girl lifted it up so that Bisca could see it as well.

"Found a good spot?" Bisca asked.

"Yep," Alzack's voice replied. "Go ahead."

Putting the lacrima down, Levy looked around. "So, we aim for the ceiling, right?"

Bisca nodded. "We're in the basement, so presumably the enemy is up there in the actual building." She requipped a gun and aimed it at a spot on the ceiling a few feet away, backing up a few steps so that she was a bit closer to the entrance. "Ready?"

Levy nodded, raising her hands as she got ready to use a spell. "We need to get out really fast, so as soon as we've both used our magic, we'll need to turn and run."

"Yep." Bisca peered through the scope of her gun. "Three… two… one… _fire!" _

What looked like green light burst from the gun, hitting the ceiling. Large chunks of rock rained down, this only increasing as Levy blasted fire at another nearby spot on the ceiling. Immediately, Bisca turned and ran, grabbing Levy's wrist to drag her behind her.

She ran several meters before she realized that she no longer felt the pressure of Levy's wrist within her hand.

"Think they're distracted enough?" Alzack asked.

"Distracted or not, I'm still attacking 'em. Ready?" Gajeel positioned himself to use his iron dragon's roar, taking a bite out of one of the nails he was still keeping in his pocket.

Alzack nodded. Despite Gajeel's confidence, he still couldn't help feeling like something was wrong, but he still pulled out a gun and aimed it toward the police office.

As their respective attacks hit the side of the building, the wall crumbled. Angry and surprised shouts could be heard from inside as the cult scrambled to escape the collapsing building.

"Okay, now we run in and attack 'em while they're weak!" Gajeel jumped from the roof of the building, followed by Alzack.

As the ones who were still able to walk charged toward them, the two Fairy Tail wizards began launching rapid attacks. Thirty minutes later, nearly all of the enemies were unable to stand, the only exceptions being the three who had run off a few minutes earlier to get reinforcements.

Knowing that they didn't have much time before those reinforcements arrived, Gajeel grabbed one of them by the collar and lifted him up. "Alright, where's ya leader?"

The man was practically in tears of fear as he pointed a shaking finger toward the police office. "H-he's in there, sir, please don't hurt–"

His words were cut off as he was dumped back onto the ground. Gajeel immediately turned and ran toward the building, Alzack following shortly behind.


End file.
